Orcadians and past visitors to Orkney will remember with great fondness visits to Corrigall Farm Museum in Harray.
This wonderful community asset, owned and managed by Orkney Islands Council, of our islands’ heritage has been closed for some time “due to pressure on resources.”
It is a fantastic example of a traditional longhouse from the 1700s. Animals would have lived in one end and the family in the other. In the 1800s the animals were moved into buildings outside the dwelling house.
The outbuildings, especially the barn with its grain kiln, are particularly well preserved.
Now whilst visitors and islanders can still visit Kirbuster Farm Museum in the summer months, also owned by OIC, it is saddening that Corrigall with its outbuildings and importance to our heritage, continues to remain closed. Indeed it may never open again and the collections either dispersed or put into storage.
The barn hopefully still contains an example of a Bikko – a straw dog given to the last farm to bring in the harvest.
Perhaps another way could be found to keep this wonderful resource for our schools and young people open? A way in which the central role Orkney’s farmers have always had in the life of these islands and its culture can be appreciated.
Digital records are fine to a point but can never replace the experience of seeing, holding and smelling our islands’ heritage. Once it is gone, a part of us is gone too.
Fiona Grahame
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